Maleficent (live action movie), at the movie theater

I hadn't originally planned to see this. I'm not really an Angelina Jolie fan, the early previews I saw made Maleficent look like it'd be a lot of flash and maybe nothing else, and Sleeping Beauty is extremely low on my list of favorite Disney movies. However, I had been hearing very good things from various reader friends, so I figured why not? Tickets are cheap here, and I hadn't gone to the movies in a while.

I was still wary, though. I'd heard lots of good things about Frozen, too, and that one ended up disappointing me. Not that I thought it was bad, but it wasn't the "OMG so amazing, best animated Disney movie in existence" experience practically everyone had been crowing it was.

Maleficent was good. Not perfect, but not the "good but kind of disappointing" that Frozen was for me.

Note: I've tried to avoid spoilers, but I still vaguely refer to some events/happenings, so read on at your own risk.

The Good:

• The stuff at the beginning, with young Maleficent. Child Maleficent was joyous, and Young Woman Maleficent was magnificent.
• The painful moment that started Maleficent on the path to being an evil fairy. Even though I expected it, because of some comments I'd read, it made me (and a few other people in the theater) gasp. Such a well-done horrible moment.
• The adorableness. I was not expecting there to be so many very cute, sweet moments.
• Diaval. Good support, rather than a show-stealer, which is a plus in my book. I'm tired of over-the-top "funny" sidekicks.

The Bad:

• Too much cheekbone CGI. I've always found Jolie's lips to be overly distracting, and it doesn't help when they're emphasized by dark lipstick. This time around, someone on the CGI team must have decided her cheekbones were jealous and tried to help them steal some of the attention.
• Aurora was boring and a little fluffy-brained. Although I wouldn't have wanted her to be otherwise at the expense of the story and Maleficent, so maybe there was just nothing to be done. But Maleficent and Aurora at least needed to talk about why she did what she did, and that never happened.
• The kiss. Considering the way things turned out, and considering that his objections made sense, I'd have preferred it if Prince Phillip hadn't kissed Aurora.
• Huh? I thought the fairies didn't need rulers? This was said early on in the movie, and yet not a single fairy complained about someone ruling over them. Not a huge thing, but it made me go "wait, what?"

So, there you have it. I may pick this up when it comes out on DVD, for the flying scenes and incredibly adorable moments.

Maybe Disney can send some folks over to DC Comics and help them make an awesome Wonder Woman movie.